I’ve been working on a long post about some tech stuff, specifically Amazon’s EC2, cloud computing in general, and some of the things that I’ve been working through lately with regards to making a quickly-growing website scalable. I’ll post it once I’m convinced that it’s done. For the moment, I want to write about something [...]
Jim Webb put the smack down on Bush on Iraq. But when are the Democrats going to get their stuff together on domestic policy? I do think that the Dems are generally stronger in that general area — or at least, more realistic — but they don’t do very well when it comes to actually [...]
The state of our union is strong.
$1.2 billion to fight malaria is a good thing, if it’s new money. (Bush and friends have had a habit of putting a new name on old money for overseas aid, and then claiming credit for it.) But, why not make it $12 billion? Or $20 billion, maybe? Or maybe even more than that? I’ll [...]
Don’t forget Poland. Wait, what’s that you say? Poland pulled their troops out? Well, um… Shit. Wait a minute.
“Tonight I ask the Congress to authorize an increase in the size of our active Army and Marine Corps by 92,000 in the next five years.” From 2005: Army misses recruiting goal From 2006: Lower standards help Army meet recruiting goal Just saying: probably a good idea, but…well…
Is it just me, or are all the applause lines in the wrong place? I’ve been following the transcript of the speech while watching, and just about every applause line has been the second-to-last line in a paragraph. Which leaves another line hanging there, and makes for an awkward transition as Bush has to wade [...]
If I were Bush and Co, I would have left this line out: “With Iraqis in the lead, our forces will help secure the city [Baghdad] by chasing down terrorists, insurgents, and roaming death squads.” Yeah, a lot of people in the US know that Baghdad is a mess. But, there are a whole lot [...]
Of course, as soon as I hit “Publish” on that last post, Bush went into talking about terrorism. I do wonder if maybe Bush and Co. could have stopped short of saying, of Islamic extremists, that one can “take almost any principle of civilization, and their goal is the opposite.” So we’re going to go [...]
Best moments of the State of the Union so far: – No mentions of terror, terrorism, or fear. – Cheney yawning several times in the background – Pelosi chewing gum – The Senator from Iowa nearly peeing his pants when Bush asked that the target for alternative fuels be raised to 3 times the current [...]
(Note to non-sports people readers — you should check out the Easterbrook link too! Seriously!) So, I’ve been reading Bill Simmons for a few years now, and generally like his stuff. But I’ve decided that as interesting as Simmons may be, Gregg Easterbrook of TMQ is much better. TMQ (Tuesday Morning Quarterback) is a weekly [...]
Ted Koppel was on the Daily Show tonight, plugging his upcoming documentary on Iran. I think I’ve figured out a secret about Jon Stewart: when he thinks that his guest is incredibly smart, knowledgeble, and interesting, he tends to ask real questions. You know that Stewart admires someone when they get all the laugh lines. [...]
We’ve got a Democratic House, Rumsfeld is out, and I’ve just returned from a wonderful, wonderful weekend in West Virginia. Pictures from the barn-raising are posted at http://tallape.org/gallery/main.php/v/emshouse/. More should be coming soon, too…
Jonathan Alter on why Barack Obama could knock Hillary out of the Presidential race. See Obama, 1 for more on what I think of Barack. (Long story short: I’ve been hoping against hope that he’d jump in for 2008 since, oh, around when he was elected to the Senate.)
A challenge: reduce your CO2 output. Easy, right? Here’s one thing that helps: live in a strawbale house.
Republicans stuck $20 million into a military appropriations bill. The reason: it’s a lump-sum set-aside for a “celebration of success” in Iraq and Afghanistan. Apparently the same money was allocated in 2005 (for FY 06), but, oddly, didn’t get spent. Imagine that.
I suspect that most who are going to read this have at least noted the issues surrounding Mark Foley, the Republican Rep from Florida who resigned on Friday. For those who haven’t, the basic issue is this: it’s come to light that over the past three or four years Foley has been sending sexually explicit [...]
Bit late getting to this one, but I highly recommend Anna’s early September posts from New Orleans as a quick look at the state of that city.
The LA Times reports on the Vermont seccession movement. The Switzerland of North America sounds like a pretty good idea to me, as long as they don’t ban ski areas or something crazy like that.
William Saletan has a very, very smart piece in Slate at the moment. Seriously, just go read it.